The rapid changes in information technology in daily life and the changing ecology of the media has, over the past few years, had a tremendous impact on shaping the moral standards and value premises of the youth in Hong Kong. The implantation of moral values, usually obtained through formal education in schools, also comes more informally, through the interaction of youth with family members or social contacts after school. What and how secondary students of Hong Kong interact with family members or the media has given rise to much controversy and deep concern. Through an opinion survey of students, as well as a telephone survey of parents whose children are studying in secondary schools, we hope to increase our understanding of the issue.

Two questionnaires, one aimed at parents and the other at secondary students, form the basis of this study. For the survey dealing with parents, a telephone survey was conducted between 22nd and 25th November 1999. A total of 318 parents whose children are studying in secondary schools were successfully interviewed. The survey aimed at secondary students was conducted through self-administered questionnaires distributed in classes through teachers and school social workers of schools in various districts. Secondary schools were invited to assist and convenient sampling was employed. A total of 1,101 secondary students, ranging from Form 1 to Form 7, were successfully interviewed. The survey was conducted between 22nd November to 3rd December 1999. The major findings are as follow:

1. Children on average stay at home for 6 hours after school on weekdays and 9 hours on weekends. In spite of that, many only have 15 minutes of conversation with their fathers and 30 minutes with their mothers. This big contrast is quite alarming to the quality of family relationships for so many in Hong Kong.

2. Despite the majority of parents claiming to know the physical whereabouts of their children, less than half dared to admit that they understood the psychological thoughts and feelings of their children.

3. The majority of the parents experienced conflicts with their children. The three most common reasons were due to the academic performance of children, disobedience and parenting styles. Unfortunately, sixty per cent of the parents did not seek assistance from outside when facing conflicts with their children.

4. In addition to the unsatisfactory quality of family relationships, the quality of parenting in terms of guidance, advice or life exposure arrangements were also far from satisfactory. Without proper and active guidance from parents, many of the secondary school students are in fact at-risk in the social environment where they grow up.

5. Students are exposed to a social environment flooded with magazines, newspapers, and social contacts which all lay great emphasis on entertainment, consumption, and leisure. Furthermore, students widely indulged in reading comic books that are dominated with Japanese love stories, fighting stories, "kong-wu" (江 湖) stories as well as "ku-wack" (古 惑) stories. Long-time immersion into this type of social environment poses a great limitations on the growth in perspectives of young people.

6. The survey data shows that students are quite social minded in general. They are positive to volunteerism as well as able to have a critical view towards media credibility and reliability. Still, many students are inclined to recognise that a good academic performance is more important than gaining extracurricular or social experiences. How to strike a balance between academic and non-academic activities in school, as well as after school, will be a key concern in the midst of educational reforms.

In view of the above discussion, the Federation will recommend that:

1. The concept of "Quality Education" should not only be applied to formal education; family education also has a very important role to play, and "quality family relationship" should be advocated.

2. Findings of the study show that there is still room for improvement in parenting performances, particularly in the following areas:

• the skills of communication, especially in understanding the thoughts and feelings of their children,

• the skills in handling conflicts with their children,

• the self awareness of parental roles to be guides on life exposure for their children,

• the arts of striking a balance between the use of "control" and "allowing liberty" to their children.

In view of this, the Federation recommends that "Quality Family Education" should be developed in the following direction:

1. To provide greater support and more convenient services for parent so that all may benefit.

2. To advocate the concept of a wider scope "Quality Family Education" through the co-operation among schools and communities.

3. To consider providing services specially designed for supporting "the father role" which would enhance role and effect of education provided by fathers.

4. To strengthen "media education" for parents and adolescent in response to the ever-changing development in information, as well as to establish correct moral values.

3. The survey also finds that the development of the life after class for secondary school students is not balanced. It is generally believed that "pursuing good academic result" is more important than "accumulating experiences through extra-curricular activities". Students use most of their after class hours in more individual activities, such as "doing homework", "media contact" and "leisure activities". Among them, "media contact" is understood to be the main channel for students to stay in touch with society. We thereby suggest that the government and the community at large should jointly motivate and provide more opportunities for youth participation.

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